Lowering the pirate flag: a TPB study of the factors influencing the intention to pay for movie streaming services

The launch of several movie streaming services has raised new questions about how online consumers deal with both legal and illegal options to obtain their desired products. This paper investigates the factors influencing consumers’ intentions to subscribe to online movie streaming services. These services have challenged the dramatic growth in their illegal counterpart in recent years. Taking the theory of planned behavior as a starting point, we extended existing models in the literature by incorporating factors that are specific to consumer behavior in this particular field. A quantitative survey was conducted for the Italian market, and structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. Attitudes, involvement with products, moral judgement and frequency of past behavior were found to be the most important factors in explaining the intention to pay for movie streaming services. The paper provides insights for policy makers and industry managers on the marketing communication strategies needed to minimize the risk of digital piracy

Evaluation of Ingenol mebutate efficacy for the treatment of actinic keratosis with Antera 3D camera

OBJECTIVE: Cumulative exposure of the skin to ultraviolet radiation promotes mutation in keratinocytes and their abnormal growth led to the formation of scaly lesions, called actinic keratoses (AKs). Its incidence is growing at an emerging rate, becoming a worldwide problem especially for occupational ultraviolet (UV) rays exposure. Detectable lesions are often associated with field changes, where the surrounding skin is altered and subclinical lesions may be present. Thus, a field-directed therapy, such as topical treatment, should be preferred for the prevention of invasive cancer development. A retrospective analysis was made, evaluating the efficacy of ingenol-mebutate gel, using a novel device the 3D in vivo optical skin Imaging (Antera 3D, Miravex, Ireland). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We included all patients with multiple non-hypertrophic Aks, to whom it was prescribed ingenol-mebutate gel, applied at the dosages of 0.015 for lesions in the scalp/face (for 3 consecutive days) and at the dosage of 0.05% for lesions in the trunk and/or extremities (for 2 consecutive days). RESULTS: A reduction of the lesions and of median hemoglobin levels, after a follow-up of 60 days, was observed in 100% of patients. CONCLUSIONS: Ingenol mebutate gel, the last topical molecule appeared in the Italian market showed its efficacy using Antera 3D also in terms of hemoglobin reduction. Therefore, this camera could be considered an useful tool for the identification of the area to be treated and for therapeutic follow-up

Power-law decay in first-order relaxation processes

Starting from a simple definition of stationary regime in first-order relaxation processes, we obtain that experimental results are to be fitted to a power-law when approaching the stationary limit. On the basis of this result we propose a graphical representation that allows the discrimination between power-law and stretched exponential time decays. Examples of fittings of magnetic, dielectric and simulated relaxation data support the results.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev. B; 4 figure

Scutellaria caucasica A. Ham.: Morphological features and headspace characterization

In the context of a wide research project, a micromorphological and phytochemical characterization was performed on the vegetative and reproductive organs of Scutellaria caucasica A. Ham. (Lamiaceae), cultivated at the Ghirardi Botanic Garden (Toscolano Maderno, BS, Lombardy, Italy). The morphological survey revealed the presence of both non-glandular and glandular trichomes. The latter belonged to three different morphotypes: peltate, short-stalked and long-stalked capitate. Histochemical assays demonstrated that the terpenes biosynthesis mainly took place in the peltates, while short-stalked capitates secreted only polysaccharides; the long-stalked ones mainly produced polysaccharides, coupled with terpene and polyphenolic fractions. An element of novelty was represented by the characterization of the VOC emission profile. Leaves and flowers showed differences in their emissions: the floral profile had a higher number of compounds than that of the leaves (37 vs 29), with a higher heterogeneity. The almost totality of the leaf profile was characterized by sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (98.8 %), while the flowers presented a more varied composition, with sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (87.2 %), monoterpenes (10.4 % oxygenated, 1.8 % hydrocarbons) and non-terpenes derivatives (0.6 %). The most abundant compounds were \u3b3-muurolene (42.6 %) and \u3b2-caryophyllene (35.0 %) in the leaves and in the flowers, respectively. In the flower headspace, 16 exclusive compounds were identified, among which germacrene D (31.7 %) dominated; leaves had 8 exclusive compounds, with valencene (1.8 %) as the most represented one. 21 common compounds were revealed: \u3b2-caryophyllene (34.1 % leaves; 35.0 % flowers), \u3b1-humulene (3.0 % leaves; 3.1 % flowers), alloaromadendrene (2.4 % leaves; 1.0 % flowers), \u3b1-copaene (2.1 % leaves; 2.7 % flowers) and \u3b2-copaene (2.2 % leaves; 1.5 % flowers) were the most abundant ones. \u3b3-Muurolene relative abundances (42.6 % leaves; 0.7 % flowers) were very different between the two profiles. Overall, this work represented the first multidisciplinary study on S. caucasica, combining a scientific research approach with the policies of the Open Science

The Effect of Social Cohesion on Subjective Individual Quality of Life in European Countries

Many scholars have studied the effects of economic conditions on subjective well-being, but scarce attention has been paid to the effect of cultural and social determinants on quality of life. This study aims to analyse the effect of social cohesion considered as a characteristic of a country on subjective quality of life. In addition, we also tested the moderating effect of social cohesion on the relationship between income and placement in society with quality of life. To test our hypotheses we estimated a multilevel regression model. First, we estimated the null model, which showed that almost a quarter of the variance in quality of life is located at country level. Second, we included in the model all the level-1 predictors. This model highlighted that self-evaluated position on the social ladder has a larger positive effect than income on quality of life. In the third step, we added country-level predictors. Controlling for other macro factors—GDP, Life Expectancy, Gini coefficient and Homicide rate—and individual-level variables, we shows that Cohesion exerts a positive effect on subjective quality of life. The model also points out that country’s economic conditions (measured by GDP) do not affect quality of life when we control this relationship for social cohesion. Interestingly, also the within-country economic disparities (measured by Gini coefficient) do not seem to affect quality of life when cohesion is taken into account. Finally, we also shows that the positive effect of income on quality of life is moderated by cohesion. In other words, income is a relatively less important factor in determining quality of life in countries with higher levels of cohesion. In the same way, individuals’ position and perception of their placement on the social ladder affects in a lesser extent their quality of life in those countries that have higher degrees of cohesion

Establishing a Baseline: Bringing Innovation to the Evaluation of Cross-National Probability-Based Online Panels

A number of countries in Europe and beyond have established online or mixed mode panels with a web component based upon probability samples of the general population. This paper evaluates data from the Cross-National Online Survey (CRONOS), a cross-national online panel of ESS respondents in three countries. By comparing the CRONOS data, both with external benchmarks, and with the face-to-face data from the ESS, we assess data quality in terms of representativeness and differences in attitudinal and behavioural characteristics without confounding the findings with other changes such as mode effects. Our findings suggest that the CRONOS sample is not extremely divergent from the target population or to the ESS. However, there are sometimes cross-national differences suggesting cross-national comparability might be different when compared to using similar estimates from a face-to-face survey

Do Italians Communicate it Better? Exploring Public Organizations Professionals’ Skills in Learning Environments

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the way organizations work, as well as technologies, skills and knowledge required to adopt these new disruptive methodologies. While firms have found themselves prepared to cope with this need because more sensitive to their employee’s digital competences, this considerably differs for public organizations, where turnover and professional trainings are often delayed or non-existent. These difficulties particularly occur in communication sector, where professionals must keep up with several threats in an unstable scenario. The role played by digital techniques in this critical period has brought new forms of knowledge exchange among both professionals and scholars, spurring new methods of inquiry in qualitative and exploratory research. The aim of this article is to investigates which are the new digital communication skills required to professionals in public organizations, and what issues arise in acquiring or applying them during the working daily life. To meet this goal, a digital focus group on Microsoft Teams among professional communicators from public organizations was carried out. The findings of the focus group have been discussed to address a twofold need: mapping hard and soft skills of digital communicators in Public Administration; evaluate the relevance of virtual focus groups in organizational studies within the pandemic scenario

The Devil Is in the Details: A Randomized Experiment Assessing the Effect of Providing Examples in a Survey Question across Countries

Despite the widespread use of examples in survey questions, very few studies have examined their impact on survey responses, and the evidence is mainly based on data collected in the United States using questionnaires in English. This study builds on previous research by examining the effects of providing examples using data from a cross-national probability-based web panel implemented in Estonia (n = 730), Great Britain (n = 685), and Slovenia (n = 529) during Round 8 of the European Social Survey (2017/18). Respondents were randomly assigned a survey question measuring confidence in social media using Facebook and Twitter as examples, or another condition in which no examples were offered. The results show that confidence in social media was significantly lower in the example condition, although the effect size was small. Confidence in social media varied across countries, and the effect of providing examples was heterogeneous across countries and education levels. The implications of these findings are discussed

Electrochemical Characterization of Charge Storage at Anodes for Sodium-Ion Batteries Based on Corncob Waste-Derived Hard Carbon and Binder

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) represent a potential alternative to lithium-ion batteries in large-scale energy storage applications. To improve the sustainability of SIBs, the utilization of anode carbonaceous materials produced from biomass and the selection of a bio-based binder allowing an aqueous electrode processing are fundamental. Herein, corncobs are used as raw material for the preparation of hard carbon and it is also used as cellulose sources for the synthesis of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) binder. The corncob-derived electrodes deliver a high discharge capacity of around 264 mAhg(-1) at 1 C (300 mAg(-1)), with promising capacity retention (84 % after 100 cycles) and good rate capability. Additionally, this work expands the fundamental insight of the sodium storage behavior of Hard Carbons through an electrochemical approach, suggesting that the reaction mechanism is controlled by capacitive process in the sloping voltage region, while the diffusion-controlled intercalation is the predominant process in the low-voltage plateau